The Inner Being

Meaning of the Term "Inner Being"

The Nature of Inner Consciousness

Just as one ascends through the "vertical" Universes, from Physical to Astral/Orectic to Spiritual/Noetic, and even beyond, so the progression from the Outer to the Inner and finally the Innermost Being is also a mystical path to Divine Light, Truth, and Love.

The ordinary mundane consciousness and existence pertains to the
Outer Being only. This is the usual state of the person who is ruled
by the ego and considers him or her self seperate from the rest of creation,
and so strives for his or her own needs alone, either not considering,
or else subordinating, the needs of others. But once we enter
the Inner Being we have a new phenomena, relative to ordinary existence;
the transcendence of egotism. The yogi and mystic therefore tend
to explore by going inwards, to the Inner Being. The further one
progresses in this direction, the more selfless and truely spiritual one
becomes.

What is the Inner Being?

By Inner Being I mean all those realities immediately behind or within and supporting and directing the outer consciousness or outer being. This means an incredibly vast range of realities and states of consciousness, including clairvoyant or expanded consciousness, meditative states, dreams, trance states, and other altered states of consciousness, psychic states, the preconscious and middle unconscious in part, the Jungian unconscious to some extent, devas, auras, secondary chakras, and a great range of New Age phenomena.

Because the Inner Being immediately relates to, and merges with, the Outer Being or our normal waking consciousness, it is easy to access and often contacted.

Aspects of the "Inner" or Subtle Being

As defined here, the "Inner Being", or "Subtle Being" or "Imaginal Realm" refers to the emanational reality immediately preceeding the gross realm. These represent a large number of different realities. These are of an occult or mystic nature, and indeed many occult and esoteric experiences would seem to pertain to this reality.

Adding to this the "Vertical" dimensions of consciousness means that at least three Subtle Universes can be posited. There are of course further higher ones, progressing to the Manifest Godhead, but these pertain to higher stages of Revelation and Illumination that are not often attained. Obviously, the further from the physical one progresses, the harder and rarer it is for the embodied consciousness to attain these spiritual summits.Those who have attained such states are generally reverred as "Masters" or "Enlightened".

The three regions or subregions referred to here are:

The Inner or Subtle Physical

The Inner Orectic/Emotional Astral

The Inner Ideational/Mental

Because the microcosm consists of a Physical/Etheric, an Emotional,
and a Mental component, there are a number of different Inner Being experiences and realities,
each represented by a particular spiritual path.

The Inner Mental is experienced through meditation and one-pointedness,
clarity and focus of mind. The most effective technique to access
this dimensional of being is the Theravada practice of Vipassana meditation.
Very similiar is the Soto Zen path of meditation and gradual Enlightenment.
Eventually, through these techniques, one is said to break through to the
transcendent dimension.

The Inner Emotional is the experience of wholesome positive emotions,
or even Divine Love. On the Physical body level we
have phenomena like rebirthing and primal screaming, which temporarily
clear out emotional blockages. On the etheric Emotional body level
there is the approach of devotional mysticism, represented by the Sufi
way of the Heart, Contemplative Christianity, and Hindu Bhakti-yoga.

All these techniques pertain to the inner dimensions of the psychophysical faculties. On a more subtle level, the Inner Mental corresponds to "the opening of the third eye", and the Inner Emotional to "the opening of the heart chakra". This leads us to the more innermost Subtle being, and ultimately to the Causal and beyond (the Primary or Archetypal Chakras)

Through continual occult development that part of the being that is closest to the Augoeides or Higher Self becomes transformed by it, and constitutes a sort of perfected Inner Being. This is more or less the "vehicle of the (Divine) Soul" of Neoplatonism (sometimes called the "astral body" - okhmea asteroides), and the "Causal body" of Theosophy.

In addition, there is the epistemic axis, from samsara to enlightenment

It may be that the Inner Reality and the Enlightenment experience have a synergistic relationship, so at this level enlightenment is not just epistemological (as it is in the Outer Gross being or ordinary consciousness) but ontological as well, involving a metamorphosis of the whole being. There are also innumerabletransitional experiences, especially if the enlightenment is not integral.